How to Access Websites from the iPhone’s Home Screen

Instead of bookmarking sites you visit frequently, you can have a button on your iPhone’s Home screen that taps in directly to the website or web page. There are two ways to go about this: web apps and web Clips.

How to add web apps to your iPhone Home Screen

Many websites, from those of news outlets like The New York Times, to stores such as Target, or your bank, display a link that reads Download the iPhone App. When you tap this button or link, the App Store opens and gives you the opportunity to download an app for that site.

When you use the web app, you see the content of the website, but usually see other functions as well that help you navigate and interact with the information that website provides. Or you might have a streamlined version of the main service that website offers. Like apps in general, there's no hard, fast rule for how and what they present, so the best thing to do is explore.

Here is an example: Barbara can go to her bank's website and sign in to her account or use the bank's web app, which has an easier sign-in procedure and eliminates extraneous information.

How to add web clips to your iPhone Home Screen

If you visit a particular web page often and there's no web app available, you can create a Home screen icon, called a web Clip, for that web page. Tapping the web Clip automatically opens the web page. If you want Safari to open to a specific Home page, create a web clip for that page.

To create a web Clip:

Open the web page for which you want to create a web Clip.

You can zoom in to a particular column on the web page you want to add to your Home screen, and when you tap the icon on the Home screen, Safari opens the web page to that same section — very handy for tracking just a column of information, like the daily menu special at your favorite diner.

Tap the Action button to display the Share Sheet, and then tap Add to Home Screen.

The Add to Home screen appears, displaying a name and icon for the web Clip you want to add to the Home screen.

Edit or type a new name for your web Clip — nine letters is optimal if you want to see the whole name under the icon.

Tap Add.

Safari closes and ushers you to the Home screen where your new web Clip has been added.